Collection Of Plant Genetic Resources Research Articles

ECONOMIC EVALUATION OF PROMISING COLLECTION OF SOUR CHERRY VARIETIES

A long-term comprehensive study of collection of sour cherries samples collected in the Krymsk Experimental Breeding Station, VIR Branch from the VIR Collections of Plant Genetic Resources as part of the state task VIR (budget project No. 0662–2019–0004), allowed us to identify promising varieties and establish with they a variety study site. As a result of the work done, adaptive varieties, best in terms of their complex of characteristics, resistant to the main diseases, allowing the creation of a conveyor belt by ripening time, were revealed: Chudo-vishnya, Igrushka, Nochka, their average fruit mass varied from 5.5 to 8.5 grams. The studied varieties had high ratings of fresh fruits, and their technological assessment of their suitability for processing showed that these varieties can be recommended for production use.

Agroecological study of garden carrot cultivars from collection of Vavilov institute

Carrots are one of the most important root crops in the world. Due to such qualities as plasticity and relative non-wholesome cultivation, carrots are cultivated in most countries of the world. Carrot roots are a valuable source of vitamins A, B, B2, B6, B12, C, RR, E, R. Agroecological conditions of the region allow to cultivate carrots in the open ground. Astrakhan region is not yet characterized by high production rates, as its cultivation can be done only under irrigation. The article considers the influence of agroecological conditions on crop yield and adaptability of garden carrots cultivars in the arid zone of the Caspian region. Experiments on studying the carrots cultivars was carried out on the fields of Precaspian Agrarian Federal Scientific Center of the RAS in 2017-2019. The purpose of the research was to study garden carrots cultivars from collection of plant genetic resources of Vavilov Institute for the selection of high-productive and more adapted samples. The object of research was 17 types of carrots from the world Vavilov collection. Based on three-year studies on yield, we can distinguish the following cultivars: Berlanda F1 (Netherlands), Nantese (Italy) and Imperator Type 9-11 (USA) with yield of 68.4 to 75.2 t/ha. The coefficient adaptability was higher than 1, in the varieties Berlanda F1 (Netherlands), Nantese (Italy), F1 Eagle (Canada), Imperator Type 9-11 (USA), Wav-88 (Germany), Surazhevskaya-1 (Russia). They have ability to adapt to difficult growing conditions and produce consistently high yields. The samples selected can be used in the future to create new cultivars and hybrids for conditions of the Caspian region.

Collaborative exploration and collection of native plant genetic resources as assisted by agrobiodiversity fair

This article describes the agrobiodiversity fair aided exploration and collection expedition of native plant genetic resources in southern Lalitpur, jointly organized by the National Agriculture Genetic Resources Centre (NAGRC) and Group of Helping Hands (SAHAS) Nepal. In-district one-day agrobiodiversity fairs were organized in February and December month of 2019, altogether two times, and these agrobiodiversity fairs were used as a tool to explore plant genetic resources found in Bagmati and Mahankal Rural Municipalities of Lalitpur district. To collect these explored genetic resources during agrobiodiversity fairs, the joint field expedition, key informant survey, diversity rich farmers discussion was used as a collection tool. The present study explored, inventoried, collected and conserved 148 accessions of 44 crop species, the highest number (18 accessions) was of chayote followed by 10 accessions each of soybean, cowpea and maize and 9 accessions of common bean. Collections are generally new and unique. Many landraces, mostly from rice (13 landraces) were identified as extinct from the surveyed areas and few are under extinction mainly due to attraction of farmers to new high yielding varieties. The collected species with orthodox seeds were tested for germination ability and those that passed a minimum of 85% germination, were preserved in seedbank of NAGRC. NAGRC plans to characterize these accessions in the coming seasons depending upon the season of crop growing. The current expedition collected eight species for which mode of propagation is vegetative or those for which seed storage behavior falls under intermediate mode. NAGRC has been started expanding field genebank coverage using these accessions.

Genetic diversity assessment in pea cultivars and lines using the SSR analysis

Background. Pea is the main leguminous crop in the Republic of Bashkortostan and widespread all over the world. The key role in the breeding of new pea cultivars is played by source material representing the phenotypic and genotypic diversity of Pisum sativum L., searched for in plant genetic resources collections. SSR markers are successfully used to study the DNA polymorphism of various genetic objects, including pea. However, the distribution of a number of microsatellite alleles in the genotypes of specific lines and cultivars of this valuable pulse crop remains practically unexplored.Materials and methods. Molecular genetic polymorphism was studied in 40 pea cultivar accessions of different ecological and geographical origin from the Vavilov Institute’s genebank of plant genetic resources or developed at regional breeding centers. Microsatellite analysis was performed using 5 SSR markers from the genomic library of microsatellites (Agrogene®, France).Results. All markers delivered good electrophoretic profiles and helped to amplify a number of alleles per locus varying from 2 (AB53) to 9 (AA355). The total number of alleles was 26, while the average number of alleles per locus was 5.2. The polymorphism information content (PIC) varied from 0.39 for locus AB53 to 0.82 for locus AA355, with the mean value of 0.60. The set of SSR markers used in the work made it possible to individualize each of the studied pea genotypes. The measured genetic distances were used to draw a dendrogram showing the distribution of genotypes according to their genetic relationship.Conclusion. Through studying the source material for pea breeding by the SSR analysis the data were obtained that provide additional information about the genetic structure of the collection and the polymorphism of the studied cultivar accessions. The results of genotyping pea cultivars and lines can be used for their genetic identification or to select parental pairs for hybridization.

Low RIN Value for RNA-Seq Library Construction from Long-Term Stored Seeds: A Case Study of Barley Seeds.

Seed aging is a complex biological process and its fundamentals and mechanisms have not yet been fully recognized. This is a key issue faced by research teams involved in the collection and storage of plant genetic resources in gene banks every day. Transcriptomic changes associated with seed aging in the dry state have barely been studied. The aim of the study was to develop an efficient protocol for construction of RNA-Seq libraries from long-term stored seeds with very low viability and low RNA integrity number (RIN). Here, barley seeds that have almost completely lost their viability as a result of long-term storage were used. As a control, fully viable seeds obtained in the course of field regeneration were used. The effectiveness of protocols dedicated to RNA samples with high and low RIN values was compared. The experiment concluded that library construction from low viable or long-term stored seeds with degraded RNA (RIN < 3) should be carried out with extraordinary attention due to the possibility of uneven degradation of different RNA fractions.

Germplasm Acquisition and Distribution by CGIAR Genebanks.

The international collections of plant genetic resources for food and agriculture (PGRFA) hosted by 11 CGIAR Centers are important components of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization’s global system of conservation and use of PGRFA. They also play an important supportive role in realizing Target 2.5 of the Sustainable Development Goals. This paper analyzes CGIAR genebanks’ trends in acquiring and distributing PGRFA over the last 35 years, with a particular focus on the last decade. The paper highlights a number of factors influencing the Centers’ acquisition of new PGRFA to include in the international collections, including increased capacity to analyze gaps in those collections and precisely target new collecting missions, availability of financial resources, and the state of international and national access and benefit-sharing laws and phytosanitary regulations. Factors contributing to Centers’ distributions of PGRFA included the extent of accession-level information, users’ capacity to identify the materials they want, and policies. The genebanks’ rates of both acquisition and distribution increased over the last decade. The paper ends on a cautionary note concerning the potential of unresolved tensions regarding access and benefit sharing and digital genomic sequence information to undermine international cooperation to conserve and use PGRFA.

Vavilov Institute (VIR): historical aspects of international cooperation for plant genetic resources

The year 2019 marked the 125th anniversaries of the foundation of the N.I. Vavilov Institute of Plant Genetic Resources (VIR). It was a long way from the Bureau of Applied Botany to VIR, the world-famous institution for the systematic collection, comprehensive study, secure conservation and sustainable use of plant genetic resources. The initiator of most research areas of VIR was the prominent botanist, geneticist and breeder N.I. Vavilov. A main feature of this institution has always been extensive cooperation with global, regional and international organizations, various research institutes and universities in many countries of the whole world. Although such cooperation has occurred in political circumstances that have seen drastic changes, and is now stretching over three centuries, the main objectives are the same and food security has always been the underling major motivation. The international activities that were started in plant genetic resources cooperation in Eastern Europe in the 1960s have often been overlooked in the widely accessible publications in English language. After the 1990s, the sphere of plant genetic resources became very political; this may be another reason why achievements that are due the major inspirations that came from N.I. Vavilov and impacted mostly the eastern European countries are sometimes overlooked. The purpose of the review is to give an account of some of these achievements, because several of the conceptual approaches remain valid for today and for the future.

Comparison Between Core Set Selection Methods Using Different Illumina Marker Platforms: A Case Study of Assessment of Diversity in Wheat.

Collections of plant genetic resources stored in genebanks are an important source of genetic diversity for improvement in plant breeding programs and for conservation of natural variation. The establishment of reduced representative collections from a large set of genotypes is a valuable tool that provides cost-effective access to the diversity present in the whole set. Software like Core Hunter 3 is available to generate high quality core sets. In addition, general clustering approaches, e.g., k-medoids, are available to subdivide a large data set into small groups with maximum genetic diversity between groups.Illumina genotyping platforms are a very efficient tool for the assessment of genetic diversity of plant genetic resources. The accumulation of genotyping data over time using commercial genotyping platforms raises the question of how such huge amount of information can be efficiently used for creating core collections. In the present study, after developing a 15K wheat Infinium array with 12,908 SNPs and genotyping a set of 479 hexaploid winter wheat lines (Triticum aestivum), a larger data set was created by merging 411 lines previously genotyped with the 90K iSelect array. Overlaying the markers from the 15K and 90K arrays enabled the identification of a common set of 12,806 markers, suggesting that the 15K array is a valuable and cost-effective resource for plant breeding programs.Finally, we selected genetically diverse core sets out of these 890 wheat genotypes derived from five collections based on the common markers from the 15K and 90K SNP arrays. Two different approaches, k-medoids and Core Hunter 3 were compared,and k-medoids was identified as an efficient method for selecting small core sets out of a large collection of genotypes while retaining the genetic diversity of the original population.

LAW OF HOMOLOGICAL SERIES IN HEREDITARY VARIABILITY. TO 100 ANNIVERSARY OF THE N.I. VAVILOV DISCOVERY

The article is dedicated to the centenary of the main scientific discovery of the academician of the USSR Academy of Sciences, the Agricultural Academy and the USSR Academy of Sciences N.I. Vavilov - to the law of homological series in hereditary variability. The discovery of the law was one of the most significant events in biology of the first half of the twentieth century and had a significant impact on the selection process. From a biographical point of view, the discovery of the law was for N.I. Vavilov - a young professor, head of the department of private agriculture and genetics of the agronomic faculty of the University of Saratov, a fateful event that brought world fame.&#x0D; In the history of Russian science, much attention is paid to the phenomenon of N.I. Vavilov. At the same time, there is a tendency to analyze his scientific work in the context of three main areas: the doctrine of plant immunity to infectious diseases, the law of homologous series in hereditary variability, and the doctrine of the centers of origin and variety of cultivated plants. In our work, special attention is paid to the integrity of the scientific work of the scientist, which can be traced in all his main works and was put into practice in the world collection of plant genetic resources, the collection of which was carried out under the guidance and with the direct participation of N.I. Vavilov. The history of the perception of the law at different periods in the development of biology and the role of this discovery in the posthumous memory of its author, N.I. Vavilov, who became a symbol of a real scientist and patriot.

Oat cultivars developed at Nemchinovka and included into the State Register in recent years (a review)

The main trend in crop breeding is to increase productivity and improve grain quality indicators. The formation of high crop productivity requires cultivars with high potential for productivity and quality as well as with resistance to biotic and abiotic environmental factors. Successful solution of these and emerging breeding problems is possible only if appropriate source material is employed.Source material from the Vavilov Institute’s collection of plant genetic resources was used in crosses aimed at the development of oat cultivars. Its brief description is presented here.The results of the breeding work on oat cultivars at the Nemchinovka Federal Research Center from 2007 through 2017 are discussed. Descriptions are given to all ten developed oat cultivars with a detailed pedigree for each combination of crosses. Pedigree analysis has been performed, and its results show a limited number of parental forms for crosses. The problem of source material utilization in breeding practice and narrowing of the genetic base in the process of cultivar development is discussed.

English

Chickpea is a cool season, drought hardy grain legume crop that is grown in Asia, East Africa, United States of America and Europe. The crop has the potential to close the winter legume gap because it can adapt to cool season temperatures as compared to summer legumes grown in Zimbabwe. The aim of this paper is to unpack various opportunities for promoting chickpea in drought prone areas of Zimbabwe which might be relevant to other Southern African countries and to understand the major chickpea production requirements in order to merge with the prevailing environmental conditions in Zimbabwe. The crop is affected by abiotic factors and biotic factors; hence chickpea cultivars that could tolerate these factors should be bred and adopted. Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR), in cooperation with the National Agricultural Research Systems (NARS) in developing countries could help distribute chickpea germplasm to Zimbabwe for research and breeding work since they collectively maintain the world’s largest international collections of plant genetic resources for use by researchers and farmers. Overall chickpea has great potential to enhance protein availability in drought prone areas of Zimbabwe especially during the winter season where no other legume is grown. Key words: Cicer arietinum, Desi, Kabuli.

Improving the perpetual raspberry assortment for the North Caucasian region of the Russian Federation by drawing on the biological potential of VIR collections

For raspberries (Rubus idaeus Focke), one of the most valuable and popular berry crops in Russia, it is important to study the genotypeenvironment interaction. The complex genomic composition of modern varieties of this crop, the modifying influence of climatic growing conditions on the manifestation of variable traits that affect the marketable fruit yield, necessitate an assessment of the varieties available in the collection in order to identify the most optimal ones for specific agrobiological conditions of the region chosen for crop cultivation. During a three-year (2017-2019) study of ten accessions of perpetual and semi- perpetual raspberries of domestic and foreign breeding accumulated at the Krymsk EBS, a branch of VIR, biological features of the phenophases of raspberries seasonal growth and development were observed concerning the following characters: the number of berries; average, minimum and maximum berry weight, as well as the total and marketable yield. The purpose of this work was to select high-tech varieties of perpetual raspberries for commercial plantations in the North Caucasus region of Russia by selecting the optimal ones with a complex of economically important traits, from those available in the VIR collection of plant genetic resources. A quantitative assessment of the influence of the variety genotype, of the conditions of the year of cultivation and their combined effect on the studied characters was carried out using the two-factor analysis of variance. It was shown that varietal characters have the greatest effect on the commercial productivity of the bush (the share of the “variety” factor influence is 68%), while weather conditions influence it to a lesser extent (the share of the “year” factor influence is 7.5%). Generalization and complex analysis of the data obtained in the course of this work showed that a combination of economically important traits was exhibited by the studied varieties ʻBryanskoe Divoʼ, ʻHerculesʼ, ʻNikaʼ and ʻAnteyʼ, which can be recommended for large-scale production trials. The use of the rapid clonal micropropagation of raspberries of perpetual fruiting type makes it possible to obtain a sufficient number of plantlets for laying out industrial variety trials for one to two years after the introduction into the culture, which, as a result, accelerates the introduction of new varieties into production.

SPECIFIC FEATURES OF THE STUDY AND MAINTENANCE OF A POTATO COLLECTION THREATENED BY VIRUSES AND VIRUS¬LIKE DISEASES

Background. The article deals with the problems faced while studying and maintaining a collection of plant genetic resources against a strong virus infection background.Materials and methods. The data obtained during 8 years of monitoring over 1000 potato accessions for the incidence of virus diseases are presented. The work was carried out at Pushkin and Pavlovsk Laboratories of VIR and at the Polar Experiment Station of VIR (Khibiny, Arctic Circle). Visual control of the symptoms of the infection was combined with an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) for potato mosaic viruses Х, S, M and Y.Results and conclusions. For many years, the global collection of VIR has been studied and maintained under a threat of strong virus infections. Among the viruses that have the widest distribution and cause significant damage to potato, there are viruses M and Y in Pushkin, and Х in Khibiny. Among the infected plant material, accessions with a latent virus infection, manifesting tolerance to the pathogens, have constantly been observed. The conventional point-based principle of scoring field resistance of potato cultivars and hybrids to viruses requires a significant revision. A new alternative approach is proposed for virus resistance assessment, when the clonal reproduction type of the tested accessions is taken into account.

Introduction: The Collection and Conservation of Plant Genetic Resources, Past and Present

AbstractThe articles in this special issue contribute to our understanding of the historical emergences and present‐day functioning of various modes of conserving plant genetic diversity in seed banks. Exploring both crop plant and wild species conservation at different times and scales, the papers examine how various actors articulate their role in stewarding plant life for the future as seeds. They reveal seed banking and its corollary, seed saving, as responses to uncertainty, which do not resolve this condition but instead generate new ambiguities and new uncertainties.

RESEARCH ON MICROMYCETES IN OATS (AVENA SATIVA L.) UNDER THE CONDITIONS OF STUPINO DISTRICT, MOSCOW PROVINCE

Background. Fungal diseases are the main cause of the deterioration of grain quality and lower yield of cereals crops. Reduction of acreage, and, as a consequence, violation of crop rotation rules, oversaturation of fields with cereals, spring and summer droughts contribute to the mass emergence and widespreading of new obligate and facultative diseases in all regions of the country. Therefore, the search for a variety of donors and sources of sustainability is a vital task.Materials and methods. Materials engaged in the research were kernels of 41 oat accessions from the VIR collection of plant genetic resources, obtained in 2016–2018 in field crop rotations by the Genetic Diversity Research Department of ARHIBAN (Mikhnevo, Stupino District, Moscow Province). The specific diversity of micromycetes in grain was identified using Litvinov’s “wet chambers” technique and light microscopy.Results. The dominant pathocomplex of micromycetes in oat grain in Moscow Province was found to belong to the genera Alternaria (A. infectoria, A. tennuissima), Cladosporium (Cl. cladosporioides, Cl. herbarum) and Fusarium (F. avenaceum, F. culmorum, F. heterosporum, F. nivale var. nivale, F. oxysporum, F. poae, F. proliferatum, F. solani, F. sporotrichioides var. minus, and F. tricintum).Conclusion. The hulled cultivars ‘Bulanyi’ (VIR-15277, Russia, Moscow Prov.) and ‘Zakat’ (VIR-15384, Ukraine), and the naked cultivar Mestnyi (VIR-15290, UK) demonstrated the least contamination with pathogens: Fusarium fungi in these accessions were represented by one species – F. avenaceum.

SPECIES DIVERSITY OF THE VIR COLLECTION OF GRAIN LEGUME GENETIC RESOURCES AND ITS USE IN DOMESTIC BREEDING

The world’s genebanks hold 7.5 million germplasm accessions of plant genetic resources (PGR). One of the qualitative characteristics of the PGR collections is the species diversity, in particular, the presence of crop wild relatives (CWR), which makes it possible to widen the use of gene pools in the breeding process. The collection of the Vavilov Institute (VIR) is one of the most diverse holdings in the number of plant species. A survey is provided here of the species diversity in VIR’s grain legume collection, and its use in domestic breeding practice is analyzed. Comparison of this diversity with the state of PGR exploitation in the world makes it possible to assess the prospects of more efficient utilization of gene pool potential, especially for species that are unjustifiably cultivated on a too small scale or even neglected as crops in this country. The VIR collection of grain legumes incorporates 196 species from 9 genera of the family Fabaceae. This number includes cultigens and CWR. The cultivars of 21 species of grain legumes listed in the State Register of Breeding Achievements (2018) are adapted to the soil and climate conditions of this country. However, the species diversity of the collection could be used more efficiently in domestic plant breeding and crop production. This concerns both underutilized crops in Russia (broad beans, lima beans and grass pea) and those whose adaptive potential is adjusted only to certain and limited areas of the Russian Federation (Tepary beans and Vigna spp.). It is also necessary to exploit more efficiently species of the wild flora, both for direct utilization as pastures, green manure or phytoremediation crops and for introgressive breeding and domestication (Vicia benghalensis L., V. narbonensis L., Lathyrus sylvestris L., Lupinus hartwegii Lindl., etc.). Incorporation of crop wild relatives into the breeding process is promising for crop improvement in a number of aspects: for example, to increase resistance to diseases, pests, abiotic stressors, etc.

Сomparative analysis of wild and cultivated Lathyrus L. spp. according to their primary and secondary metabolite contents

Species of the genus Lathyrus L. are known as forage and medicinal plants, widely used in traditional medicine and homeopathy. The content of protein, essential amino acids and carotene in their green biomass is higher than in other annual leguminous plants traditionally cultivated in Russia. Until now, the requirements for the crop’s quality were reduced to a high content of protein and dry matter in seeds and herbage. In-depth biochemical analysis of accessions from the collection of plant genetic resources will significantly improve selection of source materials for breeding. Such tasks can be solved using gas chromatography with mass spectrometry in plant diversity studies. In view of the above, our goal was to analyze organic acids, free amino acids and secondary metabolites in green biomass of Lathyrus to facilitate comprehensive assessment of its forage and pharmacological value. We analyzed 32 accessions of Lathyrus sativus L., L. tuberosus L., L. sylvestris L., L. vernus (L.) Bernh., L. latifolius L. and L. linifolius (Reichard) Bassler from the collection of the Vavilov Institute (VIR). The studied Lathyrus accessions had significant interspecific and intraspecific variability both in the composition (presence) and number of the identified compounds. The analysis of plants across different years confirmed that biochemical parameters depended on weather conditions. The colder and drier conditions of 2012 contributed to the accumulation of organic acids (mean: 890 mg/100 g), free amino acids (mean: 201.59 mg/100 g), and secondary metabolites (mean: 84.14 mg/100 g). The range of variability for organic acids ranged from 140 to 2140, for free amino acids from 11.8 to 610, and for secondary metabolites from 4.4 to 224.6 mg/100 g. Grass pea accessions with high organic acid, free amino acid and secondary metabolite contents were identified: k-900 (Colombia) for organic acids (2140, 610 and 178 mg/100 g); k-51 (Georgia) and k-959 (Afghanistan) for free amino acids (401.29 and 540.63 mg/100 g); k-893 (Eritrea) for secondary metabolites (199.39 mg/100 g), etc. They can serve as source material for the development of cultivars for different uses (forage and medicinal).

Diversity of photoperiodic responses in oats

The article presents the results of an evaluation of the earliness and photoperiodic response (PPR) in the long-day oat accessions of various geographic origin. The material for this study were 139 oat accessions from the global collection of plant genetic resources maintained by the Vavilov Institute (VIR), which included landraces, breeding cultivars, and lines. In addition, the donors of low sensitivity to photoperiod developed at VIR were tested. A preliminary field study of the oat collection for early maturity and growing plants in the vegetation experiment was carried out according to the VIR Guidelines. The early accessions from VIR’s oat collection identified in the field showed a great diversity of their photoperiodic responses during the vegetation experiment in a photoperiod facility. By origin, most of the accessions described in the vegetation experiment as earliness and weakly responsive to photoperiod were from Brazil (66 %); others from the USA, Portugal, Turkey, Colombia and Australia. Most of the Russian cultivars studied (77 %) were sensitive to a short photoperiod. Among donors with different photoperiodic responses, Skorospely 1 and Skorospely 2 were weakly responsive to photoperiod, while Srednespely 1 and Srednespely 2 showed medium responses. Many years of field studies and vegetation experiments with the oat genetic diversity from the VIR global collection have resulted in identifying genotypes characterized by earliness and weak photoperiodic responses. These accessions are of special value for breeders and currently being used to develop new early and productive oat cultivars.

Small-RNA analysis of pre-basic mother plants and conserved accessions of plant genetic resources for the presence of viruses

Pathogen-free stocks of vegetatively propagated plants are crucial in certified plant production. They require regular monitoring of the plant germplasm for pathogens, especially of the stocks maintained in the field. Here we tested pre-basic mother plants of Fragaria, Rubus and Ribes spp., and conserved accessions of the plant genetic resources of Rubus spp. maintained at research stations in Finland, for the presence of viruses using small interfering RNA (siRNA) -based diagnostics (VirusDetect). The advance of the method is that unrelated viruses can be detected simultaneously without resumptions of the viruses present. While no virus was detected in pre-basic mother plants of Fragaria and Ribes species, rubus yellow net virus (RYNV) was detected in pre-basic mother plants of Rubus. Raspberry bushy dwarf virus (RBDV), black raspberry necrosis virus (BRNV), raspberry vein chlorosis virus (RVCV) and RYNV were detected in the Rubus genetic resource collection. The L polymerase encoding sequence characterized from seven RVCV isolates showed considerable genetic variation. The data provide the first molecular biological evidence for the presence of RYNV in Finland. RYNV was not revealed in virus indexing by indicator plants, which suggests that it may be endogenously present in some raspberry cultivars. In addition, a putative new RYNV-like badnavirus was detected in Rubus spp. Blackcurrant reversion virus (BRV) and gooseberry vein banding associated virus (GVBaV) were detected in symptomatic Ribes plants grown in the field. Results were consistent with those obtained using PCR or reverse transcription PCR and suggest that the current virus indexing methods of pre-basic mother plants work as expected. Furthermore, many new viruses were identified in the collections of plant genetic resources not previously tested for viruses. In the future, siRNA-based diagnostics could be a useful supplement for the currently used virus detection methods in certified plant production and thus rationalize and simplify the current testing system.

Training in Plant Genetic Resources Management: A Way Forward

Plant genetic resource collections are national treasures that are critical to the success of breeding programs and the long‐term resiliency of agriculture in the United States and worldwide. The USDA National Plant Germplasm System (NPGS) is a coordinated network of 19 genebank locations throughout the United States that conserve and protect nearly 600,000 accessions representing ∼16,000 plant species. The expertise of current curators must be captured, and training materials must be developed to educate the next generation of those who maintain and use plant genetic resources. A group of experts convened in April 2018 to discuss the needs, pedagogical approaches, educational content, delivery platforms, and mechanisms for sustaining a possible future plant genetic resources management training program. A three‐component approach was envisioned to achieve the task of educating current and future genebank managers, as well as those who use genetic resources in their research and breeding programs. The proposed training program will include the development of online Resource Libraries, online courses, and workshops. Resource Libraries, hosted by GRIN‐Global, will make learning objects, downloadable information, and links to other online sources publicly available. These Resource Libraries will be available for use in existing classes, as well as for the development of new workshops and online courses. Development of, and public access to, training resources will capture key information about genebanking, make it more widely available, and secure its long‐term viability.